ABC's WORLD NEWS Grows in All Key Measures from Last Week and Last Year

For the 2nd straight week, "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" ranked as the No. 1 evening news program in Adults 25-54 (1.978 million) for the week of August 11, 2014, based on Live +Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research. "World News" finished as the top evening newscast in the key adult news demo for the 6th time in the last 7 weeks and in 12 of the last 19 weeks, overall. "World News" led NBC "Nightly News" (1.906 million) by 72,000 demo viewers.

"World News" improved over the prior week (7.023 million, 1.764 million and 1.211 million, respectively, for w/o 8/4/14) in Total Viewers (+9%), Adults 25-54 (+12%) and Adults 18-49 (+13%). The ABC evening newscast drew its largest overall audience in 15 weeks and best news demo performance in 13 weeks - since w/o 4/28/14 and w/o 5/12/14, respectively. "World News" grew the most week to week in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 compared to "CBS Evening News" (+4%/+7%) and "NBC Nightly News" (+7%/+9%).

"World News" saw double-digits gains on the same week last year (6.896 million, 1.774 million and 1.190 million on w/o 8/12/13) across all key target demos: Total Viewers (+11%), Adults 25-54 (+11%) and Adults 18-49 (15%). "World News" was up the most in the key adult news demo versus "CBS Evening News" (+6%) and "NBC Nightly News" (+2%).

"World News" beat "NBC Nightly News" in Adults 25-54 in 3 of 5 head to head-to-head telecast during the week: Tuesday (+48,000 - 2.163 million vs. 2.115 million), Wednesday (+51,000 - 1.983 million vs. 1.932 million) and Thursday (+442,000 - 2.068 million vs. 1.626 million). Further, in the last 5 weeks, "World News" has beaten "Nightly News" in 19 of the last 25 head-to-head telecasts.

In addition, "World News" outperformed "NBC Nightly News" on Thursday by 391,000 Total Viewers (7.687 million vs. 7.296 million) to deliver its largest single-day victory in close to 2 years - since 9/28/12, based on regular telecasts.

"World News" narrowed its Total Viewer margins with "NBC Nightly News" both week to week (-29% - 312,000 vs. 441,000) by double-digits for the 2nd week in a row to post its closest performance with the NBC program in 6 weeks - since w/o 6/30/14.

Season to date, "World News" is up versus the same point last season in both Total Viewers (+4%) and Adults 25-54 (+5%), delivering its most-watched season in 6 years and best news demo number in 3 years - since the 2007-08 and the 2010-11 seasons, respectively. "World News" also stands as the only evening newscast to improve on its news demo performance from the previous season compared to "CBS Evening News" (-5%) and "NBC Nightly News" (-3%).

In addition, "World News" is narrowing its season margin with "NBC Nightly News" in Adults 25-54 by more than half (-57% - 123,000 vs. 289,000) compared to its season margin from the same point last year. In fact, cutting its Adults 25-54 gap by double digits for the 3rd consecutive season, "World News" is seeing its closest news demo performance with the NBC program in 6 years - since the 2007-08 season.

"World News" has significantly increased its Adults 25-54 season lead over "CBS Evening News" versus its year-ago season lead (+77% - 413,000 vs. 233,000).

For the week, "ABC World News" beat the "CBS Evening News" by 1.462 million Total Viewers, 513,000 Adults 25-54 and 348,000 Adults 18-49.

"ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" airs at 6:30 p.m., ET on the ABC Television Network. Michael Corn is the executive producer of the broadcast. Follow Diane Sawyer and the "World News" team online: @DianeSawyer; @ABCWorldNews; facebook.com/DianeSawyer; facebook.com/WorldNews.

EVENING NEWS (Week of August 11, 2014)

TOTAL VIEWERS ADULTS 25-54 ADULTS 18-49 HOUSEHOLDS
ABC WORLD NEWS 7,675,000 1.7/7; 1,978,000 1.1/5; 1,374,000 5.1/11
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS 7,987,000 1.6/7; 1,906,000 1.1/6; 1,401,000 5.3/11
CBS EVENING NEWS 6,213,000 1.2/5; 1,465,000 0.8/4; 1,026,000 4.2/ 9

Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + SD weeks of 8/11/14, 8/4/14 and 8/12/13. Most Current: 2013-2014 Season (9/23/13 - 8/17/14) and 2012-2013 Season (9/24/12 - 8/18/13). Averages based on regular telecasts.